Movies - The Fountainhead

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The Fountainhead is a 1943 novel by Ayn Rand (ISBN 0452283760).

The Fountainhead was Rand's first major success and its royalties and movie rights brought her fame and financial security. The book's title is a reference to a quote of Rand's: "Man's ego is the fountainhead of human progress," which is a more specific version of its theme (which is, as Rand described it) "Individualism and collectivism in man's soul."

The book was rejected by 12 publishers before a young editor at the Bobbs-Merrill Company publishing house wired to the head office, "If this is not the book for you, then I am not the editor for you". The Fountainhead was made into a Hollywood film in 1949, with screenplay by Rand herself.

The novel

Major characters

The major characters in the novel all represent different types of people, and essentially exist to contrast Howard Roark, who is Rand's image of the perfect man (and, to a lesser extent, contrast Toohey, who is shown as the absolute evil.) Roark is the man who was 'as man should be,' who lives for himself and his own creative power, indifferent to the opinions of others. Dominique Francon is presented as the perfect mistress for Roark. Over the course of the novel she must learn not to fear society and not to let its flaws hinder her integrity. Gail Wynand is the 'man who could have been,' who rises from the poverty of his youth into an extremely rich and powerful position, but, in jealousy of his former 'superiors,' uses his superfluous talent not to create for himself, but to control others, which leads to his own demise. Peter Keating is 'the man who couldn't be, and doesn't know it,' who wants to achieve as well as make a name for himself, but lives off the support and condolence of others, which is what leads to his demise. Ellsworth Toohey, presented as the complete antithesis of Roark, is 'the man who couldn't be, and knows it,' who, pessimistic about his talent when he was young, sets out to destroy others through guilt and altruism, because he knows that this is the only way he can accomplish anything. The novel is split into four sections, named after Keating, Toohey, Wynand, and Roark; each section (though the plot is completely chronological) is named after the character which fully shows his own nature in each one. The last one, in which Roark achieves his final victory, is named after him.

Howard Roark

Howard Roark is the hero of the novel, whom Rand portrays as a paragon of Objectivist ideals (though, when the novel was published, she was not yet known as a philosopher and the term Objectivism had not yet been coined.) He is an aspiring architect with a unique, uncompromising creative vision, which contrasts sharply with the staid and uninspired conventions of the architectural establishment. Roark takes pleasure in the act of creation, but is constantly opposed by "the hostility of second-hand souls" and those unwilling or afraid to recognize his creative ability. Roark serves as the basic mold from which the protagonists of Rand's other great novel, Atlas Shrugged, are cast. Roark is the paragon of a successful man as visualised by Rand.

Dominique Francon

Dominique Francon is the heroine of the novel, described by Rand as "the woman for a man like Howard Roark." She is the daughter of a highly successful but creatively inhibited architect, and it is only through Roark that her love of pleasure and self-dominance meets a worthy equal. She is the daughter of Guy Francon, who fears his daughter and is Peter Keating's esteemed boss. She is held a protagonist, but is not (at least for the bulk of the novel) without flaw. She believes, and it is represented in her actions, that greatness such as Roark's is doomed to failure.

Gail Wynand

Gail Wynand is a powerful newspaper mogul who rose from a destitute childhood in the ghettoes of New York City to control the city's print media. While Wynand shares many of the character qualities of Roark, his success is dependent on public opinion, a flaw which eventually leads to his destruction. Rand describes Wynand as "a man who could have been."

Peter Keating

Peter Keating is also an aspiring architect, but is everything that Roark is not. Keating's creative abilities are miserably inadequate, but his willingness to build what others wish him leads to temporary success. He went to architecture school with Roark, and Roark helped him with some of his less inspired projects. He is subservient to the wills of others - Dominique Francon's father, the architectural establishment, his mother, even Roark himself. Keating is "a man who never could be, but doesn't know it," according to Rand.

Ellsworth Toohey

Rand describes Toohey as "a man who never could be, and knows it." Toohey is an architectural critic for Wynand's paper who uses his influence over the masses to hinder Howard Roark. Toohey is an unabashed collectivist, who styles himself as representative of the will of the masses. Having no true genius that such innovators as Roark possess, he makes himself excellent by manipulating the masses to believe that mediocrity is excellent. Toohey serves as the primary villain in the novel, and the gravest enemy of Objectivist ideals. Toohey is also the only character in the novel to have political goals. He is attempting to establish a Communist dictatorship in America by altering people’s view of excellence; to destroy that which is great and spread the word that altruism is the ultimate ideal. This is put forward in one of his most memorable quotes: “Don’t set out to raze all shrines – you’ll frighten man. Enshrine mediocrity, and your shrines are razed.” It is in this that makes Ellsworth Toohey Ayn Rand’s most evil villain; unlike the characters in Atlas Shrugged, who are really just blindly following Toohey’s religion, Toohey knows exactly what he is doing – and why.

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